I'm currently looking at buying a soundbar and having read the review of the Yamaha YSP 1400 it's something that is in my budget and would suit as don't have the room in my lounge for a full system. With it not having an HDMI input to it though, I would be hooking it to my TV using the optical connection.

My question is, if I set my sources (Sky, Bluy Ray, PS3 etc) to output DD 5.1 through their HDMI will this then pass through my TV (Panasonic TX-P50UT50B) and out through the optical lead into the soundbar?

Bizarrely, my TV doesn't have this option in the sound options, despite it being in the manual. If I tell Sky to output DD through the HDMI I only get silence when hooked up to my TV via optical. Hooked the Sky box up via optical and it works fine so will go with that set up for now.

Can't seem to find a way to get the Panny to output the DD through the optical lead at all, which is a pity.

I'll need to check for an update when I get home, but the box recently had the EPG updated so don't know if that would have been part of it. I do have the option for DD output through HDMI though. Through the TV, if I set the Sky box to output DD through HDMI I get no sound whatsoever, so when going through the soundbar I also get no sound. Stereo is obviously fine. When I hook the sound bar up through the optical cable on DD it's also fine.

I have been searching for this issue elsewhere. I found one article which suggests that Panasonic TVs do NOT pass 5.1 through to optical, but I was certain that they did - I have a Panasonic/Tivo combination so I will check when I get home as well...

- by forcing my TiVo receiver to output DD5.1, my Panasonic TV can accept a Dolby Digital 5.1 signal and still provide audio, whether through the TV or passed through in stereo to a DAC or 5.1 receiver

- there is no setting on any of the HDMI inputs to change the optical out from Bitstream to PCM. This only displays on the TV tuner. In other words, it seems that the TV forces PCM stereo via the optical out when on any of the HDMI channels. I don't have any HD channels with a 5.1 soundtrack right now to check their behaviour between Bitstream and PMC, but let's presume it does what it says on the tin.

- when I take a direct output from the TiVo box to the receiver, it recognises the DD5.1 signal.

In other words, it looks like my Panasonic TV will downmix to stereo whatever it gets fed, so if you want DD you'll need to go straight from your Sky box. This is not what you want to hear, sorry...

this is what "we" like, to investigate, to solve puzzles, to know! :grin: :roll:

since i was a teenager i never read a manual, it was all by intuition, but now all things are a bit more complicaded and read manuals is essential, but some time they only say half, you still have to figure it out some other things by your self or in some forum... :grin:

"if I set the Sky box to output DD through HDMI I get no sound whatsoever, so when going through the soundbar I also get no sound. Stereo is obviously fine. When I hook the sound bar up through the optical cable on DD it's also fine.

Hi there. I might be a bit late with this as I've only just read your thread. It might help anyone else though with the same question. Have you sorted yourself a nice soundbar?

My understanding is a Sky+-HD box can not output 5.1 DD via HDMI, only 2.0 audio. For me to get 5.1 when I watch sky I have to use the Optical or Coaxial. (currently using Coax) The bonus you get from this is the HDMI cable is only having to transmit the picture and not the sound too. This should mean a slightly cleaner picture.

Regards sending a 5.1 signel to something that can only playback 2.0 audio, the 5.1 signal should be downscaled to 2.0 no problem. There shouldn't be many devices these days that won't accept a 5.1 and not be able to downscale it. I hope that makes sence.

As someone suggested setting your PS3 to PCM means the PS3 will be doing all the decoding and what ever is playing through should be fine. If you ever change to and AV receiver you would need to set your PS3 and any other device with these settings back to Bitstream. This sends the signal to the receiver for it to do the decoding which in most cases will always sound better.

Your Panasonic should have an option that says something like "5.1 downmix" Lt/Rt if your sound bar only has 2 channels. If it has 5 then again setting the player to PCM should mean the player is doing all the decoding like the PS3

I hope I've helped in some way. Any questions I would be happy to try and answer them.